1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for controlling a device, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for controlling a content reproducing device, by which content of a device recognized in an image captured by a camera is displayed and reproduced in another device connected to the device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, the Augmented Reality (AR) technology is widely used in our society and culture. In particular, the introduction of high-performance smartphones and tablet Personal Computers (PCs) increases the practical use of AR-related application software. AR is technology that displays a virtual object to overlap with the real world as viewed by a user. Since the AR technology displays a single image in which the real world is displayed in real-time mixed with a virtual world having additional information, AR is also called Mixed Reality (MR). AR technology has been being researched and developed as hybrid Virtual Reality (VR) systems merging a real environment and a virtual environment since the late 1990s, mostly in the United States and Japan.
Although AR is a concept in which the real world is displayed with a virtual world, which is created with a computer graphics technique, the main part is a real environment. The computer graphics technique additionally provides information required for the real environment. This means that the distinction between the real environment and a virtual screen is vague due to overlaps between a 3-dimensional (3D) virtual image and a real image viewed by a user.
VR technology allows a user to become immersed in a virtual environment and not to display a real environment. However, in AR technology, in which a real environment and virtual objects are mixed makes a user view the real environment, thus providing a better real sense and additional information as compared to VR technology. For example, when the surroundings are viewed on a smartphone camera, information, such as positions and telephone numbers of nearby shops, is displayed in a stereoscopic image.
The AR technology is used for remote medical diagnosis, broadcasting, architectural designs, manufacturing process management, and the like. Recently, the wide spread of smartphones makes the AR technology enter into a full-fledged commercialized stage, in which various products are introduced in the gaming, mobile solution, and education fields.